It was the 15th final of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised tournament between the winners of the six continental confederations, as well as the host nation's league champions.

[4] Real Madrid won the final 4–1 for their third consecutive and fourth overall FIFA Club World Cup title, breaking the tie with Barcelona to become the outright record winners of the competition.

[13] Al Ain qualified for their first Club World Cup as winners of the 2017–18 season of the UAE Pro-League, the top-level league in the United Arab Emirates.

[20] The match remained scoreless after extra time and advanced to a penalty shoot-out, which Al Ain won 4–3 after five rounds after goalkeeper Khalid Eisa made two saves.

[21][22] Al Ain advanced to face African champions Espérance de Tunis in the second round match, held three days later at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.

[23] Al Ain produced a larger upset in the semi-finals, defeating Copa Libertadores champions River Plate in a penalty shoot-out to advance to the Club World Cup final.

[29] After a saved chance from Al Ain's Hussein El Shahat, Luka Modrić opened scoring for Madrid in the 14th minute with a left-footed shot.

[31] Madrid opened the second half with another series of attacks while retaining possession of the ball, finding its second goal in the 60th minute on a long-distance strike by Marcos Llorente.

[30] The pace of the match slowed as Al Ain looked to find a consolation goal, with Caio taking advantage of a defensive mistake by Sergio Ramos but unable to score against goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

[29] Ramos responded by scoring in the 79th minute, a header on a corner kick taken by Modrić after a counter-attack, to give Real Madrid a three-goal lead.

[5] Gareth Bale of Real Madrid won the Golden Ball award as the best player of the tournament, finishing as joint-top scorer with three goals (tied with Rafael Santos Borré of River Plate).